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abxi:r brush 



LAURA HIIHHARD BRUSH, 






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Concerning the Ancestors 

...of... 

Abner Brush and Laura Hubbard Brush. 



.\liiur I. rush and hi> wife-. Laura Muh- 
bard iJru.Nh. were dcscendi'd from \\\v first 
settlers of Xew ICn^land. 

"The first settlers of Xew England." savs 
Joliii I'iske. in "The I'leoinninms of Xew 
En<^land," "were (h'awn fri)ni the stur- 
diest part of the Eng-lish stock." If you 
know little else of the ancestors of .Xhner 
and T.aura I'-rusli than that tlie\ came to 
X'ew l-'ng^land in tlie Seventeenth Century, 
it is safe for you to infer that they were- 
men and women with the coura.Q;e of their 
convictions, and lliat they left h"n,s;land for 

(3) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

America between the years 1020 and 1642. 
"The emigration," to (jnote again from 
Fiske. ''was pre-cniinent for its respectabil- 
ity. It consisted largely of county squires 
and yeomen; thrifty, prosperous men, who, 
on account of their devotion to an idea, 
became voluntary exiles. 1 he needy, shift- 
less people who usually make trouble in 
new colonies were not tolerated in the 
early days of New England." 

The Tirushes and Conklings came from 
England to Salem together. From Salem 
they went to Long Island. John llrush, of 
Southhold, Long Island — when that place 
was a part of the republic of New Haven — 
was the first of the name in America. It is 
in the records of Fairfield county, Connec- 
ticut, that Thomas Ihnish, son of John 
lirush, born about 1010, settled in South- 
hold, Long Island, previous to 1057. He 
moved to Huntington, Long Island, in 

(4) 

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CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

1658. He married Rebecca, daughter of 
John and Mary Conkhno-, and (Hed in KITS. 
He had four chiUh-cn. — It is of interest to 
note that his youngest daughter, Rebecca, 
was married to the Reverend Jeremiah 
Hubbard in KiSd. — Thomas Brush H, the 
son of Thomas, is in the direct Une we are 
tracing. He married Sarah Wickes. — A 
boy named Francis Weeks went with Roger 
WilHams to Rrovidence. In 1G57 he was 
on Long Island, and was probal^ly the 
ancestor of Sarah Wickes — Thomas and 
Sarah Brush had nine children. Their 
second child, Thomas III, was born in 
1683. He served as a private soldier in 
the Indian War of 1715. His name appears 
on page (iS of Vol. 6(1 of New' York Colonial 
Manuscripts, recorded as a private in Cap- 
tain Thomas Higbe's Huntington, Loug 
Island, Company. 

Before going on in the direct line, listen 
(5) 



CUNCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

to a few words about the family of Ijrnsh in 
t^eneral. There is fre(|uent mention of the 
liruslies in the town recortls of Huntington 
and in the records of the First Church. 
The}' oljtained warrants for land, they 
deeded away some of their acres; a John 
Brush was chosen as one of the town 
trustees in 1715. They are frequently 
mentioned as husbandmen. Thev inter- 
marry over and over with Conklings, 
Wickes, Carmons, Platts and with others of 
familiar names. They have their children 
baptized and often give them the strange 
Hebraic names which the Puritans were 
fond of bestowing on their offspring". 

The name of the wife of Thomas Brush 
HI is unknown. His son Eliphalet was 
born in Huntington in 1712, and lived dur- 
ing "The Revolution." 

When the colonists resisted the mother 
(6) 



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CONCERNING 11 IE ANCESTORS. 

counti'}-, the name of Brush appears in the 
annals of Long Island — and always on the 
side of "the Patriots." At a meeting held 
in September. 1775, for nominating field 
officers for West SutTolk. a Thomas Brush 
was jM'esent. A Jesse B)rush was Captain 
of a company. In Captain W'ickes" Com- 
pany, raised in 177(). we find a Brush as a 
lieutenant, and four of the name as pri- 
vates. The Brushes. Conklings, Wickes 
and Camions, wIk) fought for libert}' in the 
days of " '7(),'" are too numerous to men- 
tion. 

To come back to Eliphalet Brush, the 
direct ancestor of Abner Brush. Eliphalet 
Brush served, with four others of his name, 
in Captain Conkling's Comi)any. He was 
past sixty when he did active service as a 
"minute man," and helped to build a fort 
as a rendezvous for refugees from Con- 
necticut. 

(7) 



IL /^ -A_ 



CONCERNIXr. THE ANCESTORS. 

As the writer of this l)ricf and scanty nar- 
rative — who is a connection l)y mar- 
riage — strolls about the ancestral home of 
the Brushes on Long- Island and reads the 
story of "Old Times in Huntington," she 
concludes that the Ilrushes and their kin 
were a race of plain, practical men, who did 
their dut\- when they lived and contributed 
in a modest but effective way to the welfare 
of society. 

Eliphalet r)rush married Sarah Carmon 
in lT(i2. Their eldest son, Abner, was 
born in 17(»."t, baptized and named for an 
Uncle Abner. So runs the l^rief record 
in Huntington. In the course of time, he 
moved to Cam'jridge. \'ermont. His 
mother went with him. She lived to see 
her son prosper in his new home, and died 
in ISlM), in the (|uaint and spacious house 
which he built in ISOd on the village green, 
h'or a long succession of years he was post- 

(8) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

master and kept an hotel, or, what in those 
(lays was called, a tavern. He also became 
the owner of five farms in the townshij) near 
the village. Abner Brush married Ruth 
Cooper at Caml^ridge in 1795. 

Who was Ruth Cooper? 

She was, says the genealogist employed, a 
direct descendant of Thomas Cooper,, who 
came to Xew England in HV.'A and whose 
name appears in "the original lists of ])er- 
sons of (jualit)'," mentioned in "The 
Founders of Xew F.ngland." He went 
to Windsor, Connecticut, learned the 
trade of carpenter and shared in the first 
distribution of lands in 1(140. In 1()4."? he 
removed to Springfield, Massachusetts. At 
Springfield he was one of the early settlers. 
In Kii;") lie built the first meeting house, for 
which the town agreed to give him "fom"- 
score pounds." He was chosen on tlie first 
Board of Selectmen and served seventeen 

(9) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

years. He was elected a Deput)- tu the 
General Court in ir>SS. lie served on 
many inii)ortant comniittees of a ])nblic 
nature. He was an active business man 
for that period, and had extensive dealings 
with r_\nchon. He was also a prominent 
member of the church, and occu]:)ied a seat 
in the first pew. ( )n ( )ctober 5, KIT"), he 
was fired upon and killed 1)_\- the Indians 
when they l)urned S])rini;fiel(l. 

The third child of this Thomas Cooper 
was Thomas Coo]ier, l)orn in 1(>4(!. He 
married Desire Lamberton. daughter of 
(leorge Lamberton, who was lost at sea in 
1047. He and his wife renioxed to Middle- 
town. Connecticut, where his name is first 
recorded in K'IKi, and where he died in 
ITl'l.'. I lis fourth child, Thomas, born in 
1()7S, married Abigail W'hitnujre in 1710. 
He was the father, or the grandfather of 

"Peaccm Thomas Cooper," who was one of 

(lo) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

tlie earliest settlers of Windsor, N'erniont, 
to whicli place he went from Aliddletown, 
Conneeticnt, in 17(15. His name is fonnd 
among- the first settlers to whom land was 
deeded in 1 TTl'. In ITTS he was a Repre- 
sentative. At a town meeting in ITSC he 
was chosen selectman and collector. Dea- 
con Thomas Cooper was married at Wind- 
sor, N'erniont, in 17(i7, to Peace Dean, who 
was a daughter of Ca])tain William Dean. 
Their third child, Ruth Cooper, was mar- 
ried to Abner r.rnsh in 17!)r). 

Abner llrush and his wife had nine chil- 
dren — Orlin, John, A])ner, Salima, Silas. 
Salmon, Isabel, Eliphalet and Lucy. Ruth 
Cooper Ih-nsh had a proper family pride 
for her side of the house. In due time 
she was known as "Grandmother Cooper." 
In her old age she liked to mention her 
father, "the Deacon." She told her grand- 
children that she was descended from a 

(") 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

Mayflower Pilgrim. The genealogist 
fonnd no evidence to support this assertion, 
but discovered that GrandnKjther Cooper, 
through her mother, was descended from 
Walter Dean and his wife, Eleanor Cogoes, 
who came to Xew England in MVM from 
.Somerset, England, and went tirst to Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts, and from there 
moved to Plymouth. 

The third child of Abner P)rush and his 
wife Ruth, was Abner, born in 17!)S. When 
he was old enough to set U]) for himself, his 
father gave him a farm in Cambridge. 
He married Laura Hubbard. 

Laura Hubbard was born in Weare, Xew 
Hampshire, in 1T!);». She was the tlaughter 
of Isaac Bachelder Hubbard and his wife, 
Hannah Mudgctt. In the town history of 
Weare it is stated that Lsaac Hubbard came 
to Weare ar^d married Llannah Mudgett 
about 1T!*~). He had a hat sho]) in South 

(12) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

Wearc in ISO!), and his name is among- the 
taxpayers in ISIO. A granddaughter of 
Isaac Hubbard, now Hving in Buriington, 
\>rmont. contributes the following to this 
little family history: "My grandfather. 
Isaac Huljbard. was the third son of 
Lazarus Hubbard and his wife, Abigail Gil- 
more, and was born in Alethuen, Massachu- 
setts. Lazarus Hul)bard enlisted when 
only seventeen and served in the Colonial 
Wars. He was at the battle of lUmker 
Hill. He enlisted again in 177<S. I joined 
the 'Daughters of the American Revolution' 
on his record." This granddaughter 
remembers her grandmother as an "ambi- 
tious, energetic, enthusiastic woman; a 
reader, interested in politics, a woman who 
took hold and went ahead and had a sense 
of humor." "Grandmother said her father's 
name was Eben." The history of Weare 
says that "Ebenczer Mudgett married 

(13) 



CONCERNIXt; THE ANCESTORS. 

Miriam , and they had seven chil- 

(h-en — Miriam, Jesse, Ezra, Moses, Wilham, 
John and Hannah." The evidence seems 
conclusive. 

The father of Hannah Mudgctt, El^enezcr 
Mudgett, came to Weare in 1T(!4 from 
Hampstead. He "bought out" a certain 
"Esquire Allen," and was st\led a merchant. 
When the town voted "ten jiounds lawful 
monev to hier a gospel minister," the house 
of said Ebenezer Mudgett was "the most 
convenient and central place to have the 
preaching." He was, to use the ])hrase in 
the town historw "a somewhat noted man 
in Weare." In order to give his descend- 
ants an idea of the sort of man he was when 
he tieured in local historv, it must be 
remembered that he lived when New 
Hampshire was one of the thirteen colonies 
of Great Itritain. Tt was then a penal of- 
fense to cut white pine trees. They were 

(14) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

reserved for masts for royal ships. This 
law was nnpoi)ular with all classes. The 
white pine trees were cut in defiance. The 
sheriffs made arrests in the name of the 
King. Ebenezer Mudgett was the chief of 
the olTenders who violated the law. When 
the sheriff tried to arrest him, scores of 
men came to the rescue, and the officer of 
the law received such a beating- that "he 
said he wished he had never heard of pine 
trees lit for masting the royal navy." 
Ebenezer Mudgett was taken before the 
judges, one of whom was Leverett Hubbard 
— was it only a coincidence that James 
Hubbard, a grandson of Ebenezer Mudgett. 
called a son of his, Leverett? — and ordered 
to pay a fine so light that it seems as if the 
judges were in sympathy with the men who 
cut the logs. The odious pine tree law, 

which this ancestor so courageously resist- 

(15) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

etl, helped to unite New Hampshire against 
England. 

The little town of Weare took a lively 
interest in the attempt to govern Boston by 
force. The men of the town began to arm 
and drill and to provide powder and shot. 
The "minute" men were ready. Weare 
sent thirty-six men to Cambridge. — A John 
Mudgett was one of them. He was also a 
member of "the Connnittee of Safety" in 
177(5. This John Mudgett was probably 
Ebenezer Mudgett's brother. He too came 
from Hampstead, bought lots in Weare in 
1702 and was a selectman in 1704. — To 
return to Ebenezer Mudgett. He went to 
Ticonderoga and was one of the fifteen men 
Weare sent to serve under Colonel Stark at 
the battle of Bennington. 

Laura Hubbard Brush was said to resem- 
ble her grandmother, who was the daughter 

of Ebenezer Mudgett. It is said "that 

(i6) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

Hampton folks" who peopled Hampstead 
and Weare, " were a strong race physically 
as well as mentally." The portrait of 
Laura Hubbard Urush in the possession of 
the writer reveals a woman who looks as 
if she came of "Hampton folks." She was 
a bright, ambitious girl. She taught school 
before she was married, was an ardent 
Abolitionist; and named her eldest son 
Abner Kneeland — a little fact but signifi- 
cant. Her grandfather and her father were 
among the first Universalists in Weare. 
Abner Kneeland was a Universalist preach- 
er in Keane in 1S();>. He was "a hero of 
free thought and went to prison for express- 
ing his opinion." 

This glance backward along both sides 
of the family lines of Abner Brush and his 
wife, Laura Hubbard Brush, makes plain 
that they came from t}])ical New England 
stock; from people who worked hard when 

(17) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

they came to this coiintr\- from the old 
world ; from some who were of local import- 
ance in their day, and are entitled to a place 
among "the Founders and the Patriots." 

Abner Brush and his wife had five chil- 
dren. In the records of Jefifersonville, 
Lamouille county, Vermont, we find 
Abner Kneeland, son of Abner and Laura 
Brush, born March 7, 1822; Silas, born 
May 10, 182(3; Edward Fay, born June 2(), 
1830, and Jonathan Hubbard, born April 5. 
183:>. The birth of the youngest child, a 
"sister Angela," is not recorded. The 
name of Jonathan was afterwards changed 
to Chauncey. 

These children grew up on their father's 
farm, near the village of Cambridge, in the 
shadow of Mt. Mansfield, in a characteris- 
tic way. The oldest — called A. K. for short, 
— went to a militarv collecfe. It was a 

proud moment for his younger l)rotliers 

(i8) 



CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

when he was called upon to drill the militia 
one training- day on the village g^reen. 
Afterwards A. K. studied law. Silas, 
Edward and Chaunce}' worked on the farm 
and went to school whenever there was a 
chance. Sometimes they boarded in the 
village with the minister, who started them 
in Latin. Their uncle, Dr. L5rush, the 
good doctor of all the countrv round, lived 
in the homestead on "the green," in which 
his son, also a Dr. Hrush, now resides. As 
boys they looked with respect on the dig- 
nity of another uncle, who was a member of 
"the Legislature." 

The descendants of the twenty-six thou- 
sand English who came to New England 
between KIlM) and l(i4l.', multiplied on the 
soil in remarkable seclusion from other 
communities. It was not until after "the 
Revolution" that New Englanders began to 
start on their "Westward March." It is 

(19) 



eONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 

now computed that at least oiu'-fourth of 
the present population of the United States 
can trace their origin to New England 
ancestors. 

About the year iS-j-A, "A. K." leading the 
way in a "westward march," Abner Brush 
and his family left the old farm in Cam- 
bridge and removed to Waukau, Wisconsin. 

A. F. B. 



(20) 













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